Gore blasts Bush on Texas pollution

NEW YORK (AP) - Vice President Al Gore, author of a book on the environment, says Gov. George W. Bush's pollution-fighting credentials are unfit for the White House.

Accepting endorsements Thursday from several prominent environmentalists, Gore accused Bush of allowing Texas to become the most polluted state in the union.

Referring to rankings from the 1999 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Toxic Release Inventory Report, Gore said Texas ranks "No. 1 for toxic releases into the air, into the water and into the soil. For the first time ever, Houston, Texas, is taking over the top spot as the city with the worst smog pollution in America."

A campaign spokesman for Bush responded with biting sarcasm.

"We recognize Al Gore's long history of weird and extreme environmental ideas, so we all are anxiously awaiting his plan to reduce summertime temperatures in Houston, Texas," said Scott McClellan. "After all, Gore invented the Internet."